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B Here Today: 5 Benefits of Checking Your Pooch’s P-Mail

My sweetie and I are just back from a three-day, birthday getaway to New Orleans. Cafe Du Monde, The French Quarter, The Garden District, and did I mention Cafe Du Monde?

We both needed the escape since the stress level in our house is a bit on the high side. I’ve been nose-to-the-grindstone lately as I plan, plot and prepare to launch my new career.

Over the weekend, after a couple of hours of brainstorming, I thought, “I should get out of here for a while. My brain waves are frying and I need a diversion. Maybe I’ll walk the dog.”

Usually, when I have such a thought, the next thought loops right back to whatever project I’m involved with and the poor dog goes unwalked. It’s easy to do one more thing, check one more site or look at one more potential profile.

But not this time.

This time I listened to my intuition.

Strap on the harness, snap on the leash

Since moving into a townhouse with a fenced yard, Jazzy’s formal walks screeched to a halt. Who wants to deal with poop bags when you can open the door?

Jazzy was nearly apoplectic by the time I got her ready. We made it to the light pole at the end of the driveway before she stopped for her first P-mail check.

A dog’s sense of smell is her most powerful; did you know as a canine reaches the final stages of her life, her smeller is the last sense to leave her?

I read somewhere that dogs communicate with each other by scent and can tell who has stopped where on any given route. So if you’re walking a regular path in a neighborhood or park, the more your dog hikes his leg or squats her hiney, the more social she is! She’s like the gossip queen of the pooch patrol!

Okay, so I made up the last part. I have no idea about the socialization of smelling.

But I do know that Jazzy is a frequent stopper. So we figure she’s either a nosey little hound who has to be in everybody’s business or she’s a marketing whiz (pun intended!) who wants everyone to know her business!

Learning the benefits of P-mail

As your dog’s human, you can’t know the canine mode of communication, be it social or otherwise. But you can learn to put your pup’s behavior to good use.

On our weekend jaunt, I thought of five benefits. There is no-doubt many more.

P-mail benefit #1: You get to notice the season’s first flowers. I saw a daffodil in full bloom–on February 17th!

P-mail benefit #2: Since a dog seldom steps in another’s leave-behinds, you get alerted where not to step as well, thereby saving the effort of taking a stick to the crevices in the bottom of your sneakers.

P-mail benefit #3: Each time your dog stops to check-in, you can do a check-in of your own by taking a deep breath as you turn your face to the sun.

P-mail benefit #4: There’s lots of gratitude in each of you being able to walk any distance at all.

P-mail benefit #5: Bonding time. Can you even imagine how much more your dog adores you for stopping your precious work and taking her out on an adventure? And vice-versa, of course.

Most of us are addicted to checking our own P-mail (that’s people-mail!) so be a pal and let your pooch out for some social time. You, my human friend, will reap the rewards. You can even have your own Scooby-snack afterwards!